From News Staff; AAFP ~ Dec 18, 2013

December 18, 2013 10:45 am News Staff – Editor’s Note: The U.S. Senate passed a budget resolution on Dec. 18 that includes the three-month payment patch to the sustainable growth rate.

As the year winds its way to a close, family physicians are once again asking themselves what they can expect in terms of payment from Medicare in 2014. This year, however, a permanent fix for the dysfunctional sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula is on the horizon, even if it doesn’t happen until the new year.

By Ramsey Cox & Erik Wasson; The Hill ~ Dec 18, 2013

The Senate on Wednesday gave final passage to a two-year budget plan in a 64-36 vote.

Nine Republican senators voted with 55 Democrats and Independents to pass the budget deal, which sets top-line spending levels for 2014 and 2015, allowing appropriators to get to work on an omnibus spending bill for the current fiscal year.

By Associated Press; The Washington Post ~ Dec 18, 2013

WASHINGTON — For the second time in two years, Congress is targeting employers that still offer traditional pensions for a hefty increase in their insurance premiums to help finance a budget deal.

The latest increase comes after Congress moved last year to raise the basic annual premium for pension insurance from $42 for each covered worker in the private sector to $49 in 2014. Under the budget agreement given final congressional approval Wednesday, premiums will rise again to $57 in 2015 and $64 the following year.

StreetInsider ~ Dec 18, 2013

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE : ALU) announced the appointment of Tim Krause as Chief Marketing Officer, effective January 1st, 2014.

Tim Krause will report to Michel Combes and will be a member of the Company’s Leadership team. As Chief Marketing Officer, Tim Krause will be responsible for our global marketing efforts as well as external communications.

By Jay Hancock; Kaiser Health News ~ Dec 17, 2013

Pushing back against those who warn that low levels of younger subscribers could threaten coverage sold under the health law, analysts for the Kaiser Family Foundation say enrollment of young adults “is not as important as conventional wisdom suggests.”

Even if insurance pools contain only 25 percent young adults rather than the hoped-for 40 percent, medical claims and other costs would exceed premium revenue by only about 2.4 percent, they estimate. That’s far below the kind of loss that would lead to an unsustainable spiral of huge premium increases and fewer and fewer subscribers, they say. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)

The Associated Press ~ Dec 17, 2013

ELMHURST, Ill. (AP) — World leaders set a goal for a cure or treatment for dementia by 2025 at the recent G8 summit in London.

But for now, care giving is among the most pressing issue for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

The Chicago-based Alzheimer’s Association says there are an estimated 15 million caregivers in the United States. And as baby boomers age and live longer, those numbers are expected to grow.

By Jennifer G. Hickey; Newsmax ~ Dec 17, 2013

The number of Americans receiving Social Security disability payments has increased 20 percent since President Barack Obama took office and the influx of new recipients has pushed the program close to insolvency.

The annual deficit in the Social Security Disability Trust Fund hit $31.49 billion in fiscal 2013 and the remaining balance of $100.49 billion in the fund will be depleted by 2016, the Social Security Administration predicts.

By “DoMiN8ToR”; MYCE ~ Dec 16, 2013

American internet provider AT&T has obtained a patent on technology to recognize and rate filesharers on a network. Using the technology it should be easy to block notorious pirates from the internet. The AT&T patent describes a system which gives rates users based on ’subscriber reputation scores’. The scores are calculated by monitoring network traffic of subscribers. Once the system detects an user downloading or sharing illegal content, the score is increased accordingly.

By “DoMiN8ToR”; MYCE ~ Dec 16, 2013

American internet provider AT&T has obtained a patent on technology to recognize and rate filesharers on a network. Using the technology it should be easy to block notorious pirates from the internet. The AT&T patent describes a system which gives rates users based on ’subscriber reputation scores’. The scores are calculated by monitoring network traffic of subscribers. Once the system detects an user downloading or sharing illegal content, the score is increased accordingly.

By Kelly Phillips Erb; Forbes ~ Dec 14, 2013

After a year of a do-nothing Congress, the House managed to convincingly push through a budget bill.

The bill had a surprising amount of bipartisan support and passed with a vote of 332-94. It was, however, rumored to be hard fought and required quite a bit of negotiations. Leading the way were Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), raising the chatter about where leadership is headed for both parties.